The Western Ground Parrot (Pezoporus flaviventris) is a Western Australian endemic bird that is perilously close to extinction. This blog aims to compile an archive of information garnered between the 1800s and 2009 about this elusive bird. Up-to-date information about the Western Ground Parrot, including current conservation measures, can be found from the Friends of the Western Ground Parrot website :
http://western-ground-parrot.org.au

In 1786, a French expedition was commissioned to visit New Holland to search for an apparantly lost French expedition that had been captained by La Perouse, and also to do some scientific study.

This new expedition was commanded by D'Entrecasteaux and comprised two vessels: 'La Recherche' and 'L'Esperance'.

One of the scientists on board was Jacques-Julien de la Billardiere, primarily a botanist. The Ground Parrot was collected in late 1792 or early 1793 when they were anchored at an inlet, that they called Rocky Bay, off Storm Bay,south of Hobart, Tasmania(then van Diemen's Land). They named the bird a Black-spotted Parrakeet and noted

it was green in colour, spotted with black, and moving constantly among the grasses, the bird did not perch in trees.

The expedition came to grief on the way back to France. In Java both D'Entrecasteaux and his second in command died,and then the ships were captured by the Dutch as France was at war with Holland. The collection of specimens was confiscated. On its way back to Amsterdam it was seized by the British who were also at war with the Dutch. Eventually, thanks to intervention by Sir Joseph Banks, it was restored to La Billardiere who had by then made his way back to France.

La Billardiere published an account of the voyage in 1799 accompanied by a folio of 47 illustrations. Only four of the illustrations are birds, and the Ground Parrot is one of them. La Billardiere's 1799 publication was titled "Relation du voyage a la Recherche de la Perouse", and the folio of illustrations, "Atlas pour servir de la relation du voyage a la Recherche de la Perouse".

Friday, August 23, 2013

It is likely that Ground Parrot skins were sent to several
museums and stately homes in Europe during the late 1700s and the 1800s when
there was a fervour to discover and collect the wildlife of the wider world and
to classify it.

In the 1800s, Australia was a group of British colonies later to
become States with the main land mass still being called New Holland. Eastern Ground Parrots occurred in all Eastern States of Australia,
including Queensland. The Western Ground Parrot occurs only in southern Western
Australia.

The Goteburg Natural History Museum in Sweden holds five
Ground Parrot specimens. All were given to the museum in 1864 by James J.
Dickson, as part of a collection of Australian bird skins. The collection includes
Superb Parrot, Brolga, Musk Lorikeet, Blue Bonnet, King Parrot, Superb
Lyrebird, Satin Bowerbird, Gang-gang Cockatoo, Flame Robin, Superb Blue
Fairy-wren, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Orange-bellied Parrot and several other more
widespread species. None of these birds occurs in southern Western Australia
and there are no southern Western Australian endemics on the list. It is
possible but by no means certain that the collection was made in the colony of
Victoria though not from the same location. All are labeled as from New Holland
with nothing more specific. As part of this collection, the Ground Parrots are highly likely to be Eastern
Ground Parrots.

One specimen is mounted and its image appears below. The
number 1742 which can be seen on one of the labels on a skin is a specimen
number, not a date.

We were aided in obtaining the above information by Dr G.
Nilson, Collection Strategist – Senior Curator of Vertebrates, Goteburg Natural
History Museum, Sweden. (www.gnm.se) He also
supplied the photo of two skins.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Swamp Parrot was a common name often used for the Ground Parrot.Horace Wheelwright was in the colony of Victoria for about seven years between 1852 and 1859. He was a naturalist, hunter, sportsman and writer. He spent a lot of time camped in the bush near Melbourne where he made a living by hunting for the Melbourne market - for food and trap-shooting competitions. As well as kangaroos and other mammals, many birds were taken -duck, quail, pigeon snipe, wattlebirds (5 shillings per dozen), assorted parrots and more.I can agree with H. Wheelwright that the Ground Parrot rarely perches. In several viewings of the Western Ground Parrot over the years, only once have I seen one perched and that was in a low mallee. It was on a branch that was horizontal to the ground and only about 0.7 metre above it. As well,they do climb into and over shrubs to feed. As to the call of Ground Parrot, Wheelwright may have suffered a little deafness and couldn't detect the high notes, or his camp was sufficiently far from the haunts of the Ground Parrot for him not to hear the morning and evening calling sessions. (BJN)The reference by Serventy and Whittell (see previous blog entry) is from Wheelwright's popular book.

Wheelwright, H.W. (1865). Bush Wanderings of a Naturalist; or, Notes on the field sports and fauna of Australia Felix. By an Old Bushman. Frederick Warne and Co., London.
(There was a previous edition in 1861 with a different publisher.)

We had a curious ground parrot, common in the longgrass in the plains, on the heather, and often in lowtea-tree scrub (sometimes up to the knees in water)called the Swamp Parrot. I have heard some verylearned ornithologists call it the Pheasant Cuckoo, whichI consider a very far-fetched name. The tail certainly isshaped like that of the common pheasant, and it isbarred, and here the resemblance ends; but in whatrespect this bird resembles the cuckoo, I never couldmake out, seeing that it lives on the ground, has thebeak of the tree-parrot, and the call-note is nothingmore than a faint twitter. The swamp-parrot is anelegant bird, both in shape and plumage; nearly as largeas the rosella, but not so plump. The ground colour,light sea-green; every feather of three colours, green,black, and yellow; a long pointed tail, the feathersbarred with black and yellow, and a red forehead. Theshape of the beak, head, and body, is that of the parrot.But the legs are long and bare; the claws long, straight,and pointed. In fact, it is a tree-parrot with the foot ofthe lark. It lives on the ground (but I have seen themperch on the tea-tree scrub), runs much and quickly, ishard to rise, flies in jerks, goes away very sharp beforea wind, and is very pretty shooting, rising from the grassand heather. We used to find them during the wholeyear, frequenting different localities at different times;and although they could scarcely be said to flock, Igenerally rose three or four on the same spot. Dogswill set them like quail.The next few blog entries will also focus on early records by Europeans of the Eastern Ground Parrot as this one does.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

This article is a very early report on Eastern Ground
Parrots (EGPs) in NSW and, as well as a record of observations, includes
reflections on why this species has become more scarce in the years since the writer
first observed EGPs in 1884.

Although Mr Edwards reported that they had completely
vanished from the Bega district by the time he was writing in 1924, ground
parrots are still known in low numbers in some areas not far from the NSW coast.

Many characteristics of the Eastern Ground Parrot are shared
by the Western Ground Parrot.

The illustration pre-dates Mr Edwards observations.

Notes on The Ground Parrot

By H. V. EDWARDS, R.A.O.U., Bega, N.S.W.

My acquaintance with the Ground Parrot Pezoporus walli~

cus) began about the year 1884, at which period, though never

apparently numerous, it might usually be flushed from the long

coarse grass and tussocks which then covered most of the gul—

lies and flats at the Kameruka Estate, in the Bega district on the

far south coast of New South Wales. The bird also haunted

the swamps, and was occasionally discovered among bracken on

the hillsides, but kept mainly to the denser cover, unless disturbed

and driven to take shelter elsewhere. lt was most commonly

found singly, although at times a couple of birds might be driven

from the same patch of cover. This Parrot rarely flies far, and

after covering a short distance in jerky, hesitating flight, plumps

back into Cover, much as a Quail does. During at day's Quail

shooting a few Ground-Parrots were almost invariably flushed

or were seen at times only a few yards in front of one's feet,

running silently through the tussocks, as they are loath to take

wing if they can escape by this means. These birds carry n

strong scent, and dogs set them as they do Quail. On one or

two occasions I found the dull-while eggs two in number, lying

on bare, damp earth beneath the shelter of a tussock, without

the slightest pretence of the formation of a nest. In those un~

regenerate days beautiful and always more or less rare birds

like the Ground—Parrot were very commonly shot and added to

the bag.

Personally I have never seen the Ground-Parrot perch -even

momentarily, on tussocks or elsewhere, but Horace Wheelwright

(the "Old Bushman") writing in the fifties of last century of

the fauna of Victoria, says that he occasionally saw the Ground-

Parrot perch on teatree scrub, and that he found the bird at

times about swamps in which, in places, the water was knee~deep.

The country in which Wheelwright made his observations lay

at the furthest not more than forty miles from Melbourne. He

also noted that pointers and other sporting dogs would set the

Ground-Parrot. The crops of birds incidentally shot on the

south coast of New South Wales contained seeds chiefly.

This Parrot was also found, at the period first mentioned, on

the rich Tarraganda flats, quite close to the town of Bega, but

during a long experience I have never met with or even heard

of it on the much colder Monaro highlands immediately above

the far south coastal districts. So far as the coastal districts

mentioned are concerned,the Ground-Parrot has long been but

a memory of the past. To its practical---probable entire —extinction

three causes contributed:—

First, the increase in numbers of the perfectly useless and

terribly destructive European fox, introduced to this district,

and probably spreading also into it from others about the late

eighties of last century. This cunning animal must have played

havoc with the eggs and nestlings of the Ground-Parrot, and no

doubt also often stalked and seized adult birds as well.

Secondly, the advent and quick increase in numbers of rabbits,

which penetrated over the Australian Alps to the Monaro dis-

trict, and from it soon spread to the coastal districts below.

Poisoned wheat and other grains were at first used as baits

for the destruction of the rabbit, and the Ground-Parrot, being

mainly a seed eater, suffered greatly, in common with many

other birds.

Thirdly radical alterations in and destruction of its natural

environment, many swamps being drained and the tussocks and

other coarse grasses eaten off close in consequence of heavier

stocking, while other changes in the country, also destructive

of the Ground-Parrot's natural sanctuaries, followed on the heels

of closer settlement and the subdivision into smaller areas of

the best agricultural and pasture lands.

These three causes—

but especially the two first, finally rang the death knell of the

Ground-Parrot so far as the quarters under consideration are

concerned.

But what to the writer seems strange (seeing that the Ground-

Parrot survived it, though it may in part account for the fact

that the bird has never at any time been numerous) is the cir-

cumstance that the grassy gullies and swamps in which it was

most at home were always haunted in number by native eats

(Dasyurus). These actively predaceous little animals, keen of

scent, continually scoured the gullies and swamps, often in se~

eluded places. by day, in quest of food, of which terrestrial

birds, their nestlings and eggs, formed no inconsiderable part.

Yet in spite of these primeval natural enemies, the Ground-

Parrot held its own. Owing to the direct agency of rabbit poison,

and the fact that native cats (unlike the tiger cat, which prefers

to kill its own meat) fed on the carcasses of poisoned rabbits,

these animals have themselves also become practically extinct in

this district.

‘

In conclusion, I may mention that, some years ago, writer

in the Sydney Mail stated that, in a certain quarter of New

South Wales, where the Ground-Parrot then still existed, the

birds had taken to nesting in hollows excavated in steep banks

and cliff-faces affording spaces of soft earth sufficient in depth

for the formation of tunnels. They are said thus to have escaped at any rate the ravages of foxes.

Old illustration of Ground Parrot (Pezoporus wallicus). Created by Kretschmer, published on Merveilles de la Nature, Bailliere et fils, Paris, 1878

Monday, August 12, 2013

This book was initially published in 1948 and was the first
comprehensive guide to Western Australian birds. It contains some illustrations
but the Ground Parrot is not among them. The Western Ground Parrot is called
here the Ground Parrot and is under the scientific name Pezoporus wallicus which is still the scientific name of the Eastern
Ground Parrot. The text below is from the fourth edition. There was a
subsequent and final edition by The University of Western Australia Press, in
1976.

Ground Parrot

Pezoporus wallicus

Native names: Boo-run-dur-dee (north of Perth); Djar-

dong-garri, Djar-doon-gur-ree (Perth); Djul-bat-ta (south);

Ky-lor-ing (Albany).

General colour grass-green with wavy barrings above and below

of yellow and dark brown; a prominent red forehead bond; no

yellow on the cheeks; a pale yellow wing stripe. Iris, brown; beak,

light horn colour; legs, long, ﬂesh colour. Length, 12 in.

Young birds lack the red forehead band.

When flushed the Ground Parrot rises suddenly like a quail and

flies off with a zig-zag flight, displaying the pale yellow wing stripe.

It drops suddenly about 50 or 60 yards ahead, when it may be again

flushed. The red forehead band is easily visible on birds which may

be sighted on the ground.

Distribution: This species is now rare and of restricted distri-

bution in Western Australia, but in the early days it occurred on the

coastal plain from north of Perth to Albany. Up to recently the last

individuals which appear to have been observed by naturalists in this

State were noted by S. W. Jackson at Irwin’s Inlet in 1912 and by

F. Lawson Whitlock in the wet blackboy flats around Denmark in

1913. However, in December 1952 J. W. Baggs saw 4 birds at the

Bow River, near Irwin’s Inlet. In November 1963 members of the

R.A.O.U. saw the birds at Cheyne Beach, where they had previously

been observed by C. Allen in 1947.

Nesting: The nest is usually placed below some low bushy plant,

where a circular depression is scratched out in the soil and lined

with grasses. A nest found by Whitlock at Wilson’s Inlet on Novem-

ber 20, 1913, had 3 fresh eggs; pure white, roundish in shape, fine

and smooth with very little gloss. Size, 27 x 22 mm. Another nest

found by the same ornithologist in the same locality on October 20,

1912, had two nestlings a few days old.

This 1988 photo by Dr Allan Burbidge shows the pale yellow wing stripe as referred to in the WGP entry from Serventy and Whittell's 'Birds of Western Australia'.

Saturday, August 10, 2013

There were no colour photos of the Western Ground Parrot (WGP) prior to 1988. In fact there were no photos of WGPs at all, apart from one of nestlings and one of eggs taken by W.L. Whitlock in 1912 and 1913 respectively when he discovered nests. The birds in the photos above were captured in what was soon to become the northern part of the Fitzgerald River National Park, as part of the first attempt to study the habitat preferences of WGPs by radio-tracking.Each photo shows an adult bird (bright orange band above bill). The top image (head only), is by research scientist Allan Burbidge and the lower photo of a banded bird is by volunteer Kaye Vaux. During the fieldwork for this project, between October and December 1988, thirteen WGPs were captured and released. After completion of the project, no additional photos of live WGPs were taken until late 2004.